Disasters To Drive Government IT Sharing

Spurred, in part, by the disasters of September 11 and Hurricane Katrina, Congress and the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will push government agencies to develop more information sharing processes and systems, according to a report released Wednesday.

Input, which develops market research on government business, predicted that U.S. government spending for information sharing should increase 35 percent to $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2010.

"The mere possibility that improved information sharing between and within federal, state, and local agencies could have resulted in a more efficient disaster recovery after Hurricane Katrina, or potentially prevented September 11, provokes an extremely unpleasant opportunity cost analysis," said Input senior analyst Chris Campbell in a statement. "As a result, the integration of fully developed knowledge management solutions will stand out even more as a necessity rather than a luxury."

The market research firm said knowledge management systems would work to tie information together. Emphasis would be placed on tapping into the knowledge of employees. As a successful template, Input cited the U.S. Army's Knowledge Online Management program (AKO).

Said Campbell: "Agencies will look for vendors to help them revamp their knowledge management process, making it imperative for vendors to focus on knowledge management as a complete process, not just a software or hardware fix."